Leading Care Management Firm Alere Medical Selects Tumbleweed’s E-mail Firewall Appliance to Ensure HIPAA Compliance
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sept. 2, 2003– Tumbleweed(r) Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:TMWD – News), a leading provider of mission-critical Internet communications software for enterprises, financial services organizations and government, announced today that Alere(r) Medical has selected and deployed the Tumbleweed MMS(TM) e-mail firewall, including the MMS Secure Redirect module for encrypted message delivery to any e-mail client, as their HIPAA-compliant solution for secure e-mail correspondence of Protected Health Information (PHI).
Alere(r) is the leader in care management and remote monitoring of patients with advanced heart failure. Currently deployed in 31 states, the Alere(r) Heart Monitoring Program effectively monitors patients with congestive heart failure. It provides a critical link between patients at home and their clinicians, resulting in reduced hospitalizations, improved quality of life, and greater patient satisfaction. As a healthcare provider, Alere must comply with the privacy and security regulations of HIPAA, which require health plans and hospitals to ensure the confidentiality and security of patient information.
“We needed a secure method for communicating patient health information while ensuring confidentiality,” said Robert Thorwald, Alere Medical’s chief information officer. “The challenge was finding a solution that was not only convenient for Alere but for our customers as well. Tumbleweed’s e-mail firewall appliance allows us to effectively communicate electronically with our customers and still be HIPAA compliant.”
About the Tumbleweed MMS E-mail Firewall
The Tumbleweed MMS e-mail firewall appliance provides a comprehensive set of anti-spam, anti-virus, e-mail policy management, and e-mail relay capabilities. The optional MMS Secure Redirect module allows enterprises to automatically identify and selectively encrypt e-mail containing PHI, delivering the industry’s broadest set of secure delivery options to ensure ease of use and rapid adoption, regardless of what e-mail client users have on their desktops.
The Tumbleweed MMS e-mail firewall is available in both appliance and software editions. The Tumbleweed MMS Appliance is the only Windows-based e-mail firewall appliance on the market today, offering lower procurement costs, streamlined installation and configuration, and lower ongoing maintenance requirements — with the enterprise-class scalability, flexibility and extensibility of Tumbleweed’s industry-leading e-mail firewall solution.
“Firms like Alere Medical are increasingly looking for anti-spam, anti-virus, e-mail policy enforcement, and secure communications delivery capabilities in a single, integrated solution,” said Dave Jevans, senior vice president of marketing for Tumbleweed Communications. “Tumbleweed’s MMS Appliance allows customers to take a lot of the cost and risk out of their e-mail infrastructure by consolidating multiple point products into one integrated solution.”
About Alere(r) Medical
Alere Medical Incorporated is a privately held care management company and leader in the development of technology and services that remotely monitor patients with heart failure. Alere’s products establish remote connectivity and communication between patients, their physicians, and care managers. Currently in use in 31 states, the Alere Heart Monitoring Program enables patients with congestive heart failure to have their condition assessed daily to avoid a crisis such as emergency care or hospitalization. The Program improves patient outcomes, reduces provider costs and enriches overall care. Founded in 1996, Alere is headquartered in Reno, Nev. with technology development based in Concord, Calif. For more information, visit www.alere.com.
About Tumbleweed Communications Corp.
Tumbleweed is a leading provider of mission-critical Internet communications software products for enterprises, financial services organizations and government. By making Internet communications secure, reliable and automated, Tumbleweed’s e-mail firewall, secure file transfer, secure e-mail, and identity validation solutions help customers significantly reduce the cost of doing business. Tumbleweed products are used by millions of end-users and tens of thousands of corporations. Tumbleweed customers include ABN Amro, Bank of America Securities, Catholic Healthcare West, JP Morgan Chase & Co., The Regence Group (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), St. Luke’s Episcopal Healthcare System, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Tumbleweed Communications was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif. For additional information about Tumbleweed go to www.tumbleweed.com or call 650-216-2000.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, particularly with respect to the characteristics of Tumbleweed’s products and services and the potential benefits of those products in commercial use. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “potential,” “continue,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” and similar expressions. For further cautions about the risks of investing in Tumbleweed, we refer you to the documents Tumbleweed files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly Tumbleweed’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed June 4, 2003, and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed August 14, 2003.
Tumbleweed assumes no obligation to update information contained in this press release, which represents the Company’s expectations only as of the date of this release and should not be viewed as a statement about the Company’s expectations after such date. Although this release may remain available on the Company’s Web site or elsewhere, its continued availability does not indicate that the Company is reaffirming or confirming any of the information contained herein.